Studies: Social pushing engagement

Two new studies may have more brands reaching for the social space in their next campaigns and strategy meetings. According to details from Lithium Technologies, their community-based networks are driving revenue while data out from CRE indicates more consumers are turning to social for content.

First, Lithium Technologies commissioned a study to determine if the social sphere is influencing purchases; the data shows their communities are driving higher revenue numbers across social channels including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Not only are the communities pushing revenue, the study indicates consumers in the community groups are more loyal toward brands.

Some interesting takeaways from the report include:

• Lithium communities saw 67% higher brand Net Promoter Score
• Lithium communities are pushing 52% of traffic from members to socnets
• Lithium communities have nearly 8 times as many shoppers and 12 times as many sales compared to other social channels

As for the engagement level of social networkers, new data out from the Center for Research Excellence nearly one-quarter of people are now engaging with TV programming because of something they saw on a social network while 16% say while they are watching TV they are also engaging with social media about the shows they are watching.

"A key question we sought to address is how social media usage relates to new viewing platforms and behaviors -- for example tablet usage or binge viewing," said Beth Rockwood, senior vice president, market resources, of Discovery Communications, who chairs the CRE's Social Media Committee. "The majority of viewing remains live and on traditional TV sets, but we do see that social media use has a stronger relationship with the newer platforms and behaviors. This is evidence that social media is an important part of the new ways that people are consuming television content."